Lawyer Joe Ledda, counsel for Mohammad Cosain and Nashrudin Cambang of Maguindanao, the persons accused of staging the bombing last week of a bus owned by the Yellow Bus Line (YBL) Company in Koronadal City, said they have documents and witnesses that could prove his clients were not involved in the bombing.
“They were arrested without warrants of arrest. My clients claim they were fall guys,” said Ledda in a radio interview.
The hearing is set on Monday at 10 a.m.
Ledda said they filed the petition in court “because my clients were arrested illegally and they want to be released from detention.”
On July 6, around 5:45 p.m., an improvised explosive device (IED) went off at the rear portion of YBL passenger bus with plate number 7508, parked along General Santos Drive, Koronadal City. No one was hurt as passengers were able to alight from the vehicle before the explosion, according to Mario Salazar, bus driver.
Sr. Insp. Enrico Tura Alba, deputy chief of the PNP 12 Public Information Office, said the bus left Tacurong City around 5 p.m. on that day. The suspects were believed to be on the bus.
The July 6 bombing was the third since June this year.
Three weeks ago, 10 people died and more than 20 were injured when an IED exploded inside a passenger bus owned by Peoples’ Transport just after it left the terminal in Bansalan, Davao del Sur.
The Bansalan explosion came 30 minutes after another IED went off inside a parked bus, still owned by Peoples’ Transport, in a terminal in Cotabato City.